


Assemblé

by thepilot



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ballet, Dancing, Rogue One - Freeform, Rogue One AU, sniperpilot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 00:43:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11703228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepilot/pseuds/thepilot
Summary: Inspired by (and with all credit to): http://shima-spoon.tumblr.com/Jyn, Cassian and Bodhi all teach at a dance school, and find themselves getting far more involved than they had anticipated.





	Assemblé

**Author's Note:**

> Not all dance companies have height/weight restrictions: I don't even know if the Joffrey School of Ballet does, but some professional companies do, and that is absolutely real. I certainly don't mean to paint the JSB in a bad light, but they just offer a name to the background story. This is a happy, modern day setting story.

They were all rejects, but they were happy. Jyn hadn’t ever intended to study ballet seriously: it came naturally to her, but it was more of a hobby than a life. Cassian had pursued dance in his late teens, studying abroad, but a knee injury happened at an inopportune time, and he choose to pursue teaching instead. And then there was Bodhi.

  
Bodhi Rook left him home to study with the Joffrey School of Ballet when he was 12: he’d been offered a scholarship. But as he got older, he didn’t get taller. He still played out the day his dreams had been crushed, the day he’d been kicked again by one of his partners, who towered over him. They had called him in to the office, clearly upset at the news they were about to deliver, but not as upset as Bodhi.

  
“We’re sorry, Bodhi, but there just isn’t a place here for you. You’re one of the best dancers here, you’re enthusiastic, passionate, and your technique is impeccable, but you know we have height requirements for our male dancers, and I’m sorry, but we just can’t continue with you. We’ve tried to make it work, and we know you have too, but we think it’s for the best.”

  
Bodhi had choked back tears as they told him, but he’d already known this was going to happen. The female dancers were all too tall for him: en pointe, they were usually at least a whole foot taller than him. He left that day, looking in to a few other schools, but in the end, he had decided to pursue a degree in systems engineering. He ended up graduating cum laude with a Master’s degree.

  
Somehow, the three had managed to find their way to the same studio at different times, teaching various levels of dance, discovering each other’s life history from this mom or another that had wheedled it out of them and told the other mothers. Cassian taught the advanced dancers, Jyn taught the beginning ballet class, and Bodhi, the most proficient dancer of them all, taught pre-ballet. To toddlers. But he loved it.

  
It was rare that the three of them saw each other: being as there was only one studio, their classes were never at the same time. Today was a rare occasion, because today was the company auditions for the spring production. Instructors sometimes got roped into these productions when a dancer was ill or if the numbers needed to be evened out. All casting was done by the head of the company, Mr. Popov, an older Russian gentleman who had a quick, unexpected wit. He reeked of a dancer, as he carried himself about with the utmost poise and elegance. The instructors loved and hated him. He had a hero complex, always trying to do too much rather than let someone else step in and help. And today was no exception.

  
Jyn, Cassian and Bodhi all lurked around, talking to some of their anxious students as they waited for the times at which their classes would enter and be taught a combination from Mr. Popov (who insisted on doing the choreography for each dance as well). They had seen the intermediate dancers first, as there was always more of them than any other level. Bodhi hung around to watch the rest of the…auditions? Could you really call them that? There wasn’t much on the line. Getting to be in this piece instead of another, but everything was already pre-determined.

  
Next was the pre-ballet, and Bodhi had been proud of what his students could do, given the very minimal choreography they were given. Next was Jyn’s class, and they had managed to end with Jyn exasperatingly ushering her dancer’s from the floor as they had decided that spinning in circles until they were dizzy was much more fun than what they had been given.

  
Last were the advanced dancers, but, in typical Mr. Popov fashion, they had not been called until the last group was finishing, which meant the ladies were still wrapping their feet and putting on pointe shoes, having not even warmed up at all when they were supposed to be in the room. As suspected, there were only three male dancers to the 5 girls. Well, actually, there were only two right now. Mr. Popov had decided to fuss with the record player (the old one, the really old one that the dancers had attempted to replace multiple times), and Bodhi and Jyn and somehow found themselves stretching in the room, taking advantage of the lull. They should’ve known Mr. Popov better: as the dancers trickled into the room, they were roped into taking part in barre. (Here, it should be noted, that these dancers were not even supposed to be doing barre at this point, but one of the girls had thrown a fit on behalf of the others, and they were allotted time to warm up before the audition officially began).  
Jyn stood in front of Cassian, Bodhi behind him: the three older teachers finding their own awkward place at the barre. They made quips with one another about the day, lovingly referred to Mr. Popov as Poppie, how it always went like this with him, despite everyone’s attempts. As the room prepared for their combinations, Mr. Popov had decided that Jyn and Bodhi would assist in teaching the partnering exercises.

  
“No, that’s okay Mr. Popov…I really haven’t done partnering in a long time, and I-“ but he was cut off; Jyn had decided that Bodhi had no say in the matter. Cassian had been partnered with one of his own students, and looked horribly uncomfortable. They did the first combination with only minor hitches, and Bodhi was surprised at how easy it was to partner Jyn, who was the perfect height for him. The record player started skipping, and Mr. Popov rushed over to take care of it, and that’s when Jyn decided she was bored.

  
“You’re so petite Bodhi! I bet I could pick you up!” Jyn exclaimed as she stepped behind Bodhi, taking hold of his waist. He tried to push her off, but a part of him was amused. He was only vaguely aware of the fact that they were instructors and students were watching them.  
“Do a padesha, I bet I can lift you up!” And as he did, Jyn managed to gracefully lift him up as he jumped. They both giggled as she set him down, and some of the other dancers did, too. But Cassian was not amused. Jyn and Bodhi realized at the same time that Cassian had not been amused this entire time: ever since they’d been partnered up, he’d been in a sour mood.

  
“Can you please?” he said in a polite, but aggressive and forced voice. “You’re wasting time.”

  
Bodhi blushed in embarrassment and Jyn playfully pushed his shoulder. “Oh get over it. You’re just jealous,” she said with a laugh. Bodhi let out a chuckle, too.  
Mr. Popov finally fixed the record player, and started teaching the other combination, but Cassian couldn’t keep his mouth shut now: Jyn and Bodhi had unknowingly opened a can of worms.

  
“No, Jyn, you’re not supposed to plie into the releve, it’s just a releve, passe,” he snapped at her from his partner, who had turned red.

  
“Sorry, I’m old,” was Jyn’s excuse. Bodhi grinned at that: they were all in their mid-twenties.

  
Cassian didn’t let up on his corrections, and Bodhi was beginning to wonder if Cassian was even remembering the combination correctly; Cassian’s poor partner looked mortified.

  
They moved on to the next combination, and that was when Cassian seemed to lose it completely.

  
“No, Jyn, you’re not even letting him lead, and Bodhi, that’s not the correct hand position. How can she turn if you grab her hand like that? It should be this,” Cassian said, pushing Jyn to the side and replacing her with Bodhi. Bodhi said nothing, and quickly stopped watching himself in the mirror when he saw how red he’d gotten. Cassian started leading Bodhi in the combination, and it seemed like the entire room had stopped to watch. Bodhi, despite lack of recent serious training, was simply stunning to watch the female’s position, his port de bra radiating beyond his fingertips and Cassian leading him with expertise and grace.

  
A bobby pin could fall to the ground and no one would have turned their gaze away from watching Bodhi and Cassian, whose sudden partnering had caused the room to stop and watch. It was only a short, 5 eight-count combination, but it seemed like an entire production. There were no lifts, nothing too extravagant, but Cassian and Bodhi had carried out Mr. Popov’s combination like they had been living and breathing it their entire lives, and the whole room stood motionless as they finished the combination with Bodhi posing in a petite arabesque, Cassian supporting his extended front arm. They didn’t break eye-contact as they slowly dropped their positions, coming back to the room. It was Jyn who started clapping, and the entire room chimed in. One of girls wiped a tear from her eye, and one of the boys could be heard sniffing.

  
“Yes, just like that. Like that,” Mr. Popov managed to squeak out as he made his way over to the record player and lifted up the needle. Bodhi was the first to break his gaze from Cassian, as one of the girls had run up to them.

  
“Let them do the grand pas de deux, Mr. Popov,” she exclaimed. The others in the room nodded and added their agreement. Bodhi and Cassian had both turned shades of scarlet.

  
“Yeah! I just saw a production, two guys danced together, they were the best ones! No one cared!” one of the boys added.

  
“No, no, it’s really okay. I’m not even supposed to be in here anyway, I should’ve left a long time ago…my students are already gone…” Bodhi said as he made his way over to the barre to pick up his water bottle.

  
“It’s something to think on,” Mr. Popov said, to everyone’s surprise, stopping Bodhi in his steps.

  
“We do the same thing every year, the audience, they say they do not mind, because they are your parents, but they may like something different. Even if it is…different…” he said, nodding to Cassian, who had become oddly relaxed and suddenly shy.

  
“Yeah, I mean, it’s whatever,” Cassian said. “Mr. Rook?”

  
“I…I mean with work and then my classes, I don’t know that I have time-“

  
“I can teach for you if you two need to get together to work on this piece instead,” Jyn said. She needed the money more than Bodhi, anyway.

  
“No one is in the studio after Mr. Andor’s class on Saturday,” Mr. Popov said. It seemed that Bodhi was the only reluctant party in this decision.

  
“As long as…I mean, one of these kids should get to do it instead…” Bodhi said, looking at his feet.

 

“No! We don’t want to! You guys should!” Each of the students exclaimed.

  
“Okay, as long as…as long as it’s not inconvenient…”

  
“It’d be inconvenient if you two didn’t hook up after this,” Jyn mumbled much too loud. Bodhi had already been blushing, but now it was Cassian who blushed.  
“One thing at a time,” Cassian said, walking over to Bodhi and putting a hand on his shoulder.

  
“If you’re uncomfortable at all, we really don’t have to. You just really shouldn’t keep hiding your talents from this studio,” Cassian said with a smile.  
“No, no, it’s fine. We can…it’ll be fine,” Bodhi said, finally making eye contact and smiling.

  
“Good, we can start meeting this next week, after my class. Let me give you my number so you have it,” Cassian said, pulling a flustered Bodhi behind him.  
“Never thought that would work,” Jyn said, leaning over to whisper to one of the girls. “Cassian’s been obsessed with Bodhi since he spied on him dancing by himself a few months ago, before his pre-ballet class started,” Jyn said with a smirk.

  
“We noticed,” the girl said, winking at Jyn. “He kept asking us about him, and it only got more than apparent he was too scared to make a move when he told us to look up old YouTube videos of Mr. Rook dancing, because he was the best and we would all never be as good as him,” the girl said with a smirk.

  
“Silly, silly boys,” Jyn said, shaking her head.

 


End file.
